


The Fair

by TinyTyper



Series: Fantober 2020 [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: At the Fair, Billy is a cocky bastard tbh, Fluff, M/M, Max/Lucas background, Secret Relationship, Smoking, Steve is a good babysitter, Stolen Kisses, Swearing, Totally doesn't just let them run wild, eleven/mike background, idk what else to tag this, im bad at tags rip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26856187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyTyper/pseuds/TinyTyper
Summary: Trying to hide a relationship in a small town is hard. The solution? Go to a fair outside of town and use babysitting as an excuse
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair
Series: Fantober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940461
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	The Fair

“Why aren’t we just going to pick up Max?” Lucas was complaining in the back seat of Steves car.

“Yeah, El too, they should be coming with us, not in Billy’s dumb car” Mike added. 

“Guys, there’s only five seats, where would they sit?” Dustin chipped in, turning around in the front passenger seat to stare at them. 

“I don’t know, on the floor?” 

“On the floor? You’re going to make your girlfriends sit on the floor just to come to the fair? Really Mike?”

“Okay so we’d sit on the floor and they could have our seats, besides, Will could budge up and we’d get at least one more in the back” Lucas explained, gesturing to the smaller boy to his left. 

“Alright guys, stop it, I gotta focus on the road” Steve jumped in before the argument became anything worse. 

“But Steve, come on, this sucks” Lucas moped. 

“Look, the reason I can’t have them in my car is because first of all, there’s not enough seats and second, Hopper would probably kill me if I made El sit on the floor, which, for the record, I would never do” Steve explained. He really didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the chief.

“Not to mention Billy would probably beat you to a pulp if you made Max do that too” Dustin added. The boys hummed in agreement at that at least. 

Steve’s stomach flipped anxiously. The real reason that Max and El had to come in Billy’s car was so that the two of them would both have a good excuse to meet at the fair in the first place, but the kids didn’t know that. In fact, Steve hadn’t told anyone about him and Billy. 

A few months ago, they had both showed up to basketball practice after school hours, neither of them having been told it was cancelled. They had played a few rounds against each other, their competitiveness getting the better of them and Steve had ended up walking off to the showers in a sour mood. Billy just got under his skin somehow, annoyed him in ways he couldn’t fathom. 

When he walked into the locker room he had started up an argument and Steve had chomped hard on the bait. Billy had smirked at him and made some dumb comment and Steve had felt his stomach lurch in anger and had swung a punch. Billy had only just avoided it, but he retaliated by pushing Steve up against the locker, holding him in place with one arm and gripping Steves wrist with the other to avoid any more attacks. 

They had stayed there like that for a few minutes, both of them breathing heavily, faces incredibly close together, before Billy had moved forward the extra few centimetres, touching his lips to Steve’s and shocking the shit out of him. 

Steve had paused only for a moment before he started kissing Billy back, both of them relaxing against the locker, Billy moving his free hand to rest on Steve’s hip, leaving his legs feeling like jello.  
Even thinking about it now, Steve felt himself blushing gently. After that, they had began meeting up in secret, taking late night drives or stealing moments between classes with each other. Nobody even thought they were friends, let alone hooking up together. A few people had commented on the lack of open fighting they did with each other anymore, but Steve had put it down to “growing up” and moving on and people seemed to think that was logical enough. 

But today was a little different. The fair was an hours drive from Hawkins and it had started the week before, so most of the kids from school had already been at the weekend. It wasn’t likely to be too busy on a Thursday, so he didn’t think he’d have to keep to much of a watch on the kids, meaning he and Billy could enjoy their undercover date a little bit more. 

Steve had impressed himself with how full proof this plan was, and he was allowing himself to get a little bit excited at least. 

Once they pulled into the car park and Steve found a good enough spot, they all tumbled out, making sure they had all their things with them for the day. 

Steve pushed his sunglasses back into his hair, looking around for Billy’s car. Thankfully, Mike had spotted the girls hanging out near the entrance, so they made their way over. El had stayed with Max the night before and both of them were sporting matching braids in their hair today. 

Mike hugged El and Lucas had went straight over to Max, Dustin and Will following behind them to make up the group and before long, they were all chatting excitedly. 

“Hey, where’s your brother?” Steve asked Max, not seeing him around. 

“Oh, he said he left something in the car” 

Steve nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting with the kids. 

“Wait, he’s actually coming with us? I thought he was dropping you guys off?” Lucas whined. 

“Trust me, I tried to get him not to come, but he said my dad told him to” 

“This blows, we should ditch him once we get in” Dustin remarked, inciting a conversation between them all about the best way to lose Billy in a crowd. 

“Guys, come on, I have to look after you all today so be on your best behaviour” Steve interjected, crossing his arms. 

“But you don’t suck as much as he does” Mike explained. 

“Oh, I don’t know if I agree with that” Billy had walked up behind Steve, leaning one arm on his shoulder, smirking. Steve felt his neck begin to turn red as his stomach flipped. Asshole. 

“Can we go in now? We’ve been waiting for ages” Max said, looking pointedly at her brother. 

“Blame Harrington for being late, not me” He replied, taking his arm from off of Steve’s shoulder and pushing his keys in his jeans pocket. 

“Not all of us want to die in a speeding car, Hargrove” Steve countered, emphasising his last name. Billy just smiled at him in return and Steve could’ve kissed him right then and there. 

He just managed to pull himself together enough to start ushering the kids towards the entrance. Once they all had their wristbands, Steve grabbed them before they ran awol. 

“Don’t do anything stupid, don’t annoy anyone, don’t break anything, am I clear?” 

“Yeah, yeah can we go now please? We have to make it to at least one of the rides before the line gets too long”

“Dustin, look around, I don’t think there’s going to be a line” Lucas pointed out, earning him a glare from his friend. 

“Look, whatever you do, just don’t leave without me” Steve finished, ending the conversation. They all nodded so he shooed them off, all of them turning on their heels and running into the midst of the fair. 

“You’re one hell of a babysitter” Billy commented, opening his cigarette pack and taking one from it. 

“You have no idea” Steve replied absentmindedly. He watched as Billy held it between his lips and grabbed a second one, holding it out to him. He took it and pulled his lighter from his own pocket. He sparked it up and Billy came close and held his in the flame at the same time. 

Once they were lit, Billy looked over Steve’s shoulder, pointing to the games stalls that lined the walkways around the fair.

“Well, I guess we better go do something fun” he said, starting to walk over to one. Steve waited for a moment, watching him walk away and smiling to himself as the nicotine buzz set in. 

Steve double stepped a little to catch up with him. “How good are you at these?” 

Billy chuckled lowly. “Dude, I used to live by the ocean. The pier had this shit twenty-four seven” he explained. “I’m pretty much a pro” 

“Huh, I thought they were all rigged. I’ve never won anything” 

Billy flung an arm around Steve’s shoulder, guiding them over to one of the ring toss stalls. 

“Oh, they absolutely are, but unlike you” he jabbed a finger playfully at Steve’s chest, almost flicking some ash on him, “I know how to work around that”

“Uh huh, sure” Steve replied sarcastically. 

“Oh, you don’t believe me? Just fucking watch” he moved his arm from Steve’s shoulder as he put down some change on the counter. The guy took the money and left five rings on the countertop. Billy took a drag of his cigarette and threw it on the ground, stamping it out under his shoe. He grabbed the rings and Steve watched, leaning against the countertop as he flung one after the other. 

Sure enough, Billy landed every single one. 

“How did you do that?” Steve asked, brow furrowed. He was always so shit at these games. 

Billy moved over to him, putting a finger under his chin and pushing gently upwards. “Close your mouth Harrington, you’ll catch flies” 

Steve couldn’t get his mind to focus enough to form words for a moment, instead just watching as Billy was handed a dumb stuffed animal as a prize. He turned to Steve and rolled his eyes. 

“Come on, let’s go do something else”

Steve pushed himself off the counter and forced his legs to walk for him. “You gonna give that to Max?” he asked, gesturing to the teddy bear. 

Billy looked down at it turning it over in his hand. 

“Nah she hates shit like this” he replied before looking up at Steve. “Here, you take it” 

Steve grabbed it as it was shoved into his chest, looking up at Billy with a grin. 

“Did you just win this for me? I didn’t realise we were at that level yet” he teased dramatically. He saw a tint of red in Billy’s cheeks and his stomach fluttered. 

“Yeah, well, you said you didn’t ever win anything so…” he shrugged, looking away, but Steve had caught the small smile that he was trying to hide and that was all he needed. 

He was about to tease him more, but something bit at his finger and he pulled it up to him to realised he had let his cigarette burn too low. “Ow, shit” he put his finger to his mouth to stop the burn hurting and Billy laughed at him. 

“You’re a fucking idiot, Steve Harrington” 

“Oh, shut up” he muffled back, nudging Billy’s shoulder with his own. 

The next few hours had been amazing. Steve had vowed to win something in return for Billy and they had went around every stall trying to find something he was good at. In the end, all he managed to achieve was a small keychain with a power rangers’ logo on it, but it had made Billy laugh to see his over dramatic response to failing each time before that and he had assured Steve he loved his prize, even going so far as to take his keys from his pocket and adding it right then. 

It made Steve feel so fuzzy and warm inside and he found as the day went on it became much harder to stop himself from smiling constantly. 

It seemed like Billy felt the same and when they convinced the guy to let them into the funhouse, they couldn’t help but laugh out loud at each other’s antics. Steve had stumbled through the rotating tunnel and landed unceremoniously on the floor at the other side, causing both of them to fall into a fit of laughter. There was one section which was like a mirror maze and neither of them seemed to be in a rush to leave there, both of them getting lost “accidentally” in a corner for a good ten minutes, only leaving after a kid had stumbled into them and scared the hell out of Steve, making him jump back and pulling away from Billy’s lips, hitting his head on the fake glass. 

This made Billy laugh again, but he at least took pity on Steve’s injury this time and promised to buy him ice cream once they headed out. 

Once Steve had a once in his hand, he and Billy had walked over to the small fence that created the temporary fairground boundary. Steve hopped up and sat on it, Billy leaning on it next to him, entirely too close for two boys that had apparently hated each other only a few months before. 

This section of the fence was a little it out of the way, partially hidden behind an old unused tent. They could hear the faint mumble of the other people in the background enjoying the fairs attractions, but other than that, it was peacefully quiet back here. They had paused in the silence for a moment, Steve making his way through his ice cream, wondering what the kids were up to, when Billy interrupted his thought. He had stepped out, turning so that he was in front of Steve, and looked up at him. 

“What do you think Max would say if I told her…” he started, picking absentmindedly at a small bit of wood that was chipping off the fence. 

Steve paused, lowering his plastic spoon. 

“Like about… About us?” he asked, feeling his chest tighten a little at the thought. 

Billy looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. She’s a smart kid, she knows I’ve been seeing someone secretly”

“Oh, shit…” 

“She doesn’t know who though, so don’t worry. I told her to drop it when she asked me, but she’s been using it against me and it’s starting to piss me off” he frowned. 

“Wait, so you only want to tell her so she’ll stop bugging you about it?” Steve’s shoulders dropped and he abandoned his tub of ice cream on the fence next to him. 

“No, not just that” Billy replied, moving his hands to rest on top of Steve’s. “Look, it’s hard trying to find excuses all the time for my step-dad. If Max is on our side then it might be easier, or something” Billy leant forward, resting his forehead on Steve’s shoulder. 

Steve moved his arms so they were hung around Billy’s neck, using him to stop from falling backwards off the fence. He glanced around but nobody else was anywhere nearby. He sighed pulling Billy in closer, the other boy wrapping his arms around him on the fence. 

“Max is a good kid, and she looks up to you a lot, whether you realise that or not. I think if you want to tell her then you should”  
Steve felt Billy relax a little in his embrace, but he wasn’t finished yet. 

“But I swear to god, Billy,” He started, steeling himself when Billy leant back a little, to watch Steve’s face. “If this is just temporary then you better decide if it’s worth it, cause I can’t risk that” his voice trembled slightly towards the end. 

They had never confirmed if they were an actual thing after all. All the meeting late at night and stealing kisses between classes had been just fooling around to begin with, sure, but Steve was at the tipping point. He was ready to fall head over heels for Billy, and a part of him knew he probably had already, but he didn’t want to get hurt. He didn’t think he could take it right now. 

Billy frowned, looking confused. “What do you mean, temporary? Steve we’re literally dating, we’re even on a date right now” 

Steve’s entire demeanour changed as he grinned down at Billy, his nerves turning from being worried that they were just a fling to anxiously trying to explain himself. 

“Yes! Yes, we absolutely are but I don’t know, we never really talked about it and I just thought that maybe-”

He was cut off by Billy’s lips on his, kissing him softly for a moment and taking his breath away. 

When Billy pulled away, Steve let his eyes flutter open and saw him grinning. 

“What?” he asked, his cheeks flushed. 

“Nothing” Billy replied, looking away and biting his lip. 

“Look I know I was probably overthinking stuff; I do that sometimes. A lot, actually, but I just… I don’t know. This isn’t exactly what other people think is okay, is it…” he trailed off, carding a hand through Billy’s hair, his fingers catching in some of the tangled curls. Billy turned his head back to look at Steve. 

“Well, they can fuck off. If they have a problem with my boyfriend, then they have a problem with me” Billy shrugged, blush creeping across his cheeks softly. 

Steve pretended not to freak out at the fact that Billy had just called him his boyfriend, but it must have showed on his face because Billy rolled his eyes and pulled him off of the fence gently, grabbing the bear he had won him earlier from the bottom of the fence and handing it back to him.

“Don’t think too loud, someone might hear you” he joked, slipping his hand into Steve’s and lacing their fingers together. Steve sighed happily and quickly pulled Billy in for another kiss, his arm swung around his neck still holding his bear. 

Billy hummed into the kiss and it nearly made Steve’s heart explode. They pulled away a moment later, both breathless and grinning. 

“Come on,” Steve spoke first, starting to lead them back towards the fair. “We should probably go find the kids” 

Billy squeezed Steve’s hand just before the edge of the tent ended and they separated once more. Steve hated that even more, now, but they only had to get through a few more hours before they could meet up alone again. 

They managed to find the kids waiting in line for food at a burger cart, so Steve had told them to go grab a table while he brought it all over. They had ran and grabbed a bench instantly, all of them unable to sit still, laughing about about how Dustin had screamed on one of the rides. When Steve brought over the tray full of food, he heard them talking about the ferris wheel too and saw Will roll his eyes when Lucas mentioned he hadn’t really seen anything from the top.

“Yeah, cause you and max were too busy making out, it was pretty gross dude” Dustin exclaimed a little too loud. 

Steve smirked at them and stole a bag of fries to take over to the table Billy was lounging at, next to the kids one. He was currently glaring at Lucas, lighting up another cigarette. Max noticed him and rolled her eyes, turning to reassure the boy. 

Steve sat down across from Billy, reaching out to offer him some fries. When Billy didn’t even look up, Steve kicked him gently under the table to get his attention. He glanced at him and took a handful of fries, his glare lessening. 

“Leave them alone, stop being an asshole. Lucas is a good kid” Steve tried, telling him off gently. 

“I’ll leave him alone when he leaves my sister alone” he replied, throwing a fry at Max. It hit Dustin instead, who turned to Mike annoyed, 

“What the hell was that for?”

“What? I didn’t do anything!” 

“Oh, so one of your fries just randomly grew wings and flung itself at me, huh?” Dustin threw one of his fries back at Mike, which started a mini food war between all the kids. Fries and bits of hot dog ended up everywhere and Steve just laughed as he watched them. When he turned back to Billy, he caught him smiling at him and it made his heart skip a beat. 

After another few turns on the rides and some tries at the fair games, they group started heading back towards the car park. Steve was glad that none of the kids noticed him and Billy walking close enough that their hands brushed against each other. 

When they got past the entry gate, Dustin and Will headed straight for the car after saying goodbye to the girls, but Steve hung back to wait on the others. Billy stood leaning against the fence with his arms folded. El hugged mike and kissed him quickly on the cheek and Steve had to stifle a laugh when he looked up and saw the look on Billy’s face when Max did the same with Lucas. 

When the girls turned and headed to Billy’s car, giggling, Mike walked quickly over to Lucas who looked startled at Billy, before turning on his heel and practically sprinting away to join Dustin and Will. 

Steve looked up to see Billy smirking at him. He pushed off from where he was leaning on the fence and closed the distance between the two of them. 

“Hey Harrington, you busy later?” 

Steve shrugged and shoved a hand in his pocket. 

“Yeah, actually, I have a date with my boyfriend” he explained with a playful lilt to his voice. Billy smirked back mischievously. 

“Tell him you’re busy. You can meet me at eight thirty, usual place” Billy replied, before turning and walking over to his car. He was swinging his keys around in his fingers and Steve caught a glimpse of the power rangers keyring he had won him earlier. 

Steve shook his head and smiled to himself, heading to his own car. He was Billy Hargrove’s boyfriend, of all things. He, Steve Harrington, had managed to bag one of the most sought-after guys to ever walk through Hawkins. Whod've thought. 

As he slid into the driver’s side of his car, he could hear the engine of Billy’s death machine come to life and pull out on to the main road. He sighed, happily, ignoring the babble that had started amongst the boys already. 

They were ten minutes away from Mike’s when Dustin brought up the ferris wheel again, renewing the debate form earlier. 

“Look, there’s interesting stuff to see up there, okay!”

“Oh yeah, sure, way more interesting than kissing my literal girlfriend” Lucas piped up. 

“Guys, come on, it’s just a ferris wheel” Will complained, clearly over the entire thing already. 

Steve didn’t care too much to stop the fight this time, too busy lost in thoughts of his date later that evening. 

When it came time to drop Dustin off, last this time because Will was staying at Mikes, Steve decided to bite. 

“What did you see that was so interesting anyway. It’s just fields around there”

“It wasn’t really a thing, per say…” Dustin started as Steve pulled up outside of his house. 

“Spit it out, just tell me” Steve said, leaning back against his seat. 

“Okay, when we were on the way down I just happened to see Max’s brother with someone behind one of the tents, but nobody cared about it enough to go check it out with me, so we never found out who it was” 

Steve didn’t really know what to say, so he said nothing, which was probably not the right course of action because Dustin kept talking. 

“I mean you were with him like the whole day right, do you know who it is? I’m telling you, it was definitely him…”

“Get out the car”

“…I think they had brown hair, maybe, there was a tree there too so I couldn't really see…”

“Dustin”

“…Hey, how did you manage to get that bear, you suck at those games” 

“Get out the CAR. NOW” 

Dustin put his hands up in fake surrender, grabbing his bag and unbuckling himself. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll see you next week when you’re less grumpy” he moaned, opening the door, and getting out, walking up towards his house. 

Steve let out a deep breath and leant his head against the steering wheel. 

“I have to quit babysitting” he said to himself before he pulled out back on to the road again.

**Author's Note:**

> I went hard on this one, I'll be honest. Once I started I just couldn't stop and here we are...
> 
> I'm kinda obsessed with Billy/Steve fics rn and I just thought this would be perfect. They might be a little ooc, but I hope I at least captured something of what their characters are like! 
> 
> This is day/fic 6 of the #Fantober2020 series! Please check out the official Fantober account on twitter at [Fantober2020](https://twitter.com/fantober2020)


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